Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe watched in an emotional moment for James W. Ray

snip//

James W. Ray sat silently in the front row of the church meeting room, rubbing his eyes.

Ray wasn’t mourning a loss. Rather, the Vietnam veteran and felon wept over something that had just been returned to him — the right to vote.

“Those are tears of joy,” observed Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who came to First Baptist Church in South Richmond on Thursday to formally restore the rights of Ray and two others.

The governor was commemorating a year in which the secretary of the commonwealth’s office restored the rights of 5,113 Virginians to vote, serve on a jury, hold public office and become notaries.

snip//

“This is a great day in my life,” said Ray, convicted in 2005 of a nonviolent felony. He received an official proclamation from the governor along with LaQuita Fairley and Verneda Muhammad.

“This is what’s great about being governor,” said McAuliffe, who became a little emotional himself at seeing Ray’s reaction.

“I’ve said many times I think it’s important that everybody in life gets a second chance,” the governor told the audience of parishioners, politicians and rights restoration advocates. They cheered and applauded frequently throughout the event as officials and former offenders alike told of trying to restore civil rights — and the impact restoration will have on their lives.

CNN Reporter Confronts NYPD Union Head About Cops Turning Backs to de Blasio

What he did say was, “We have to understand the betrayal that they feel.” Lynch kept saying that today is a day for mourning, and tomorrow everyone can go back to debating. He did not outright say whether these officers were right or wrong to do what they did.

Lynch, of course, has been incredibly critical of de Blasio, to the point where he blamed the mayor’s rhetoric about the police for the deaths of Ramos and his partner Wenjian Liu.

Yeah, "a day for mourning" and a day to show that we're not above Westboro Church.. we can Protest at funeral's too. Seems to me like Lynch was the one who made this happen with his inflammatory rhetoric.

Charleston, WV - Gary Southern, President of Freedom Industries during the January 2014 MCHM spill into the Elk River, is facing charges of bankruptcy fraud, lying under oath and wire fraud.

According to the criminal complaint filed in federal court in Charleston, Southern lied under oath about his role at Freedom Industries prior to the spill in order to deflect blame from himself and protect himself financially.

FBI Special Agent James Lafferty II says in the criminal complaint that Southern engaged "in a pattern of deceitful behavior, which included numerous false and/or fraudulent statements about his role at Freedom, his role in the sale of Freedom to Chemstream, and his knowledge about conditions at the Etowah Facility.”

In bankruptcy court, Southern said under oath that his role with Freedom Industries prior to its sale to Chemstream, a Pennsylvania company that bought Freedom on December 6, 2013, was as a "part-time financial-type consultant," and that his role in Freedom Industries sale to Chemstream was "superficial."

The U.S. Attorney General’s office has filed an indictment against four executives of the company that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 West Virginians this past January, alleging violations of the Clean Water Act.

The indictment marks the second time this month that former Freedom Industries CEO Gary Southern has been charged with violations related to a massive chemical spill that saw 10,000 gallons of a coal-cleaning chemical called crude MCHM dumped into West Virginia’s Elk River. Also named in Wednesdsay’s indictment are company ex-president Dennis Farrell, former secretary William Tis, and onetime vice president Charles Herzing.

The East Bay's New Power Couple: Richmond’s Gay Police Chief Gets Married

snip//

Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus and Terrance Cheung, the chief of staff in Supervisor John Gioia’s office, were married in a ceremony that took place among blooming flowers in the terraced amphitheater at the Berkeley Rose Garden over the weekend. After the small ceremony, the newlyweds held a reception for about 250 people at the Richmond waterfront restaurant Salute’s.

Magnus and Cheung form something of a political power couple as was evidenced by some of the guests at the reception. Among the well-wishers were some of the heaviest hitters in the East Bay, including Congressman George Miller, state Senators Loni Hancock and Mark DeSaulnier, Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, Contra Costa Supervisor Gioia, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, and most of the city’s councilmembers.

snip//

Modesty aside, the two men have made considerable contributions to the communities they work in. As Supervisor Gioia’s chief of staff, Cheung has worked tirelessly on the development of the Ryse Center, which offers numerous resources and organizing opportunities for troubled youths in West Contra Costa County. He has also worked on the development of a one-stop service center for the formerly incarcerated that offers assistance with housing, employment, education, counseling, and medical resources for those who are struggling to get a footing after being released from prison. He is currently working the development of the West Contra Costa Family Justice Center, which provides counseling, legal and support services to the victims of domestic violence

Magnus’ eight years as Richmond police chief have seen a sustained reduction in violent crime that has rarely been matched in other cities that have experienced seemingly intractable violence related to gangs and chronic unemployment. When Magnus first became chief in 2006, Richmond was regularly rated as one of the most violent cities in the United States. Now, the city’s crime rates are at their lowest in 30 years, which is the result of Magnus’ community policing programs, which include forging strong bonds with community members, church leaders, and young people. The result has been safer streets and renewed interest in the city by businesses.

Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus, who set off an avalanche of emotions when he held up a “#Black Lives Matter” sign at a local protest, says he wouldn’t hesitate if placed in the same situation.

“Sure, I would do it again, but I would like to be a little better prepared for the fallout,” Magnus said Monday.

The police chief said he and about a half dozen other members of his command staff were at a community center when the protest began Dec. 9, and that a woman he was chatting with “on issues of the day” asked if he would hold the sign.

“I looked at it for a minute and realized this is actually pretty innocuous,” Magnus said. “That 'black lives matter’ is something that I would think that we should all be able to agree upon. All lives matter.”

This kind of school yard pettiness just makes me agree with the Mayor even more that certain reforms and better community policing are badly needed in the NYPD

Danny Clampet · Top Commenter · University of Kentucky

Exactly! Those who demonstrated at the funeral are bullies who do not respect the mayor, the public or their fallen comrade and his family. They feel they are above all civilians, those in authority and those they supposedly serve.

Anne Arthur · Top Commenter · Portland, Oregon

I agree. They want respect, but too many act like immature children. This is not the way to instill public trust or respect into their judgments or behaviors. If they want respect, the good officers are going to have to 'out' the problematic officers. And the union needs to stop protecting the officers that hurt the organization as a whole.

This is really heartening! For sanity's sake. The NYPD wanted the Protestors to stop out of respect for Officers Ramos and Liu But, they cannot bring themselves to show the same respect they ask of others. Hypocrite thy name is NYPD.

authority but they act like prepubescent bullies at the funeral for Raphael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. Disrespecting them by politicizing their funeral. They show no respect but want everyone to bow down to them.

Mayor De Blasio told the truth.. the NYPD can't handle the truth.

UP Pastry Plate @UPPastryPlate
Follow
By turning their backs to @BilldeBlasio the #NYPD is confirming everything we know to be true about that gang. #unbelievable7:04 AM - 27 Dec 2014 70 Retweets 33 favorites